5133

Warburton

An apologetic dedication to
the Reverend Dr. Henry
Stebbing

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD
ENDOWMENT FUND

AN APOLOGETICAL

DEDICATION

To the REVEREND

Dr. HENRY ST EBBING,

In Anfwer to his

CENSURE

AND

MISREPRESENTATIONS

OF T H E

S ERM ON

Preached on the

GENERAL FAST DAY,

Appointed to be obferved

DECEMBER 18, 1745.

B Y
WILLIAM WARBURTON,M. A.

Chaplain to his Royal Highnefs the
Prince of WALES.

LONDON,

Printed for J. and P. KNAPTON in.Ludgate~Street.

MDCCXLVI.

[ Price 4<f. ]

>*. 7

T O

The very REVEREND

Dr. HENRY STEBBING,

Chancellor otSantm, &c. &c. &c.

REVEREND SIR,

TH E un fought for Honour of your
Acquaintance, which it has been
my Fortune to acquire, in a Way
the mofb reputable a Man of Letters can get
to the Knowledge of the Great, (your can-
did Recommendation of my Principles to
the Public, at every critical Occafion) lays
me under fuch Obligations to you, that no-
thing but an Acknowledgment of this kind
can difcharge.

Forfo ftrong are your Inclinations offerving

me, that, in one of our late familiar Converfa-

tions, you tell me, that you are not at all dif-

couraged from perfevering, in thefe Marks of

B your

302525

CO

your Friendship, by my Story of the Wolf and
Bagpiper \ But, good Sir, how came you
to think yourfelf concerned in that Story ?
You fee it was addrefled to a much forward-
er Man, Dr. W. who indeed fcraples not
to tell his Friends, that it was you who pu (li-
ed \\imforwardS) and then left him in the
Lurch: But I did not expect you would
have confirmed this Anecdote your felf, by
fo evident a Symptom of a confcious Heart.
Truth, I mud confefs, is a little uncourtly
in a Dedication : But let not this alarm you $
I know my Office better than to violate that
Self-complacency, which cannot chufc but
fpring from your laft elegant Performance j
and fhould be as unwilling, as I am unable, to
deprive you of an Advantage you have flill
enjoyed from your Youth upwards, and, in-
deed, the only one, the Advantage of the laft
Word. Befides, as you are plealed to let me
underftand, you are now at length difpofed to
follow my Advice, and give the poor Remainder
efyour Lije a little Reft b , it would be barba-
rous in me to difturb your Repofe : The

• See, The Hiftory of Abraham in tkt plain and obviout
Meaning of it jujiijltd, &c. p. 105.
k Idem, ibid.

Ho-

[3 J

Honour therefore, I intend myfelf at prefent is
only, in my proper Office, to rock your Cradle.
And tho' I did fo, in the common Way
of Dedicators, by telling you of your own
Virtues, it would have more than a com-
mon Propriety, as it would be the bringing you
acquainted with thofe Things yourfelf are
moft a Stranger to. For what was faid of
the Moral Virtue of Cafo, may fitly be ap-
plied to your Polemic ones, viz. What you
do is not done Jo much with Ajfe flat ion or Defign,
as becaufeyou cannot do otherwife c. And here,
your late Pamphlet, called *fhe Hiftory
of Abraham &c. opens fo large a Field
of Panegyric, as would invite the moft back-
ward Encomiaft to hand you down, in full
Glory to Pofterity. But I have already fo large-
ly celebrated your Science, your Logic, and
your Candour, on this Head, that I am
content it may ftand as my laft Acknowledge-
ment for all you have faid, or (hall at any
Time hereafter think fit to fay, upon it. Yet
as I find myfelf indebted to you for a new
Favour, your civil Notice of my late Ser-

c Qui nunquam rede fecit ut facere videretur, fed quia aliter
facerenoa poterat. Pater c.

B 2 monj

[4]

mon ; and as the laft Favours of our Benefac-
tors, are generally the firft in our Memory, I
ftiall, at prefent, only crave leave, in due Return
for fo unexpected an Honour, to commit the
Sermon itfelfto your Patronage and Protection.
And becaufe it is not unreafonable to fuppofe
you may have never read it, I will taks the
Freedom to inform you, in a Way you cannot
avoid attending to, of the Subject and Occa-
fion. For a Dedication every Patron is fup-
pofed to read, at what Diftance foever he is
pleafed to ftand to the Book it felf.

A free and equal Government is the great-
eft temporal Bleffing the Almighty ever be-
ftowed upon Mankind. Such an one, in
his great Mercy, he beftowed on us ; which
we were in full Pofleffion of, when a vile
unnatural Rebellion, fupported by the moft
formidable Power in Europe, threatened to
overturn it j and on its Ruins, to erect a
civil and ecclefiaftic Tyranny, the moft de-
teftable and diabolic that God, in his
Wrath, ever permitted the Enemy of Man-
kind to deform the Work of his Creation
withal. At this important Juncture, when
no human Means, fufficient to fave us, were
at hand, but our determined Courage to live

and

[ j]

and die with the Conftitution, I obferved
ibme good Men were apt to terrify thern-
felves and others with an Apprehenfion,
that the private Vices of the People
had brought down this juft Judgment
of God, to the Deftrudion of the Pub-
lic. Into this kind of Divinity I fuppo-
fed them to be led (but you, Sir, as we mail
fee, have fhewn me my Miilake) by. the
fingle Conlideration of God's dealing with
the Jewijh People j on whom, in the Mag-
nificence of his Royal Bounty, he had gra-
cioufly beftowed the moft excellent of all
civil Governments: in which peculiar Oe-
conomy he did, indeed, punifh private Vices
by the Overthrow and Defbuclion of the State.
At this Juncture, a Fall- day, being appoint-
ed by Authority to implore God's Bleffings,
and to deprecate his Judgments, I underftood
it to be my Duty, on fuch an Occafion,
both as a Minifter of God's Word, and a
Subject of the King, to examine into the Rea-
fonablenefs of thefe Apprehenfions ; and to
(hew thofe committed to my Care what
they had indeed to truft to. In the firft
Place, therefore I endeavoured to prove,
that the Cafe of the Jewijh People could not,

for

for many Reafons, be brought into Example :
That the Method of Providence, there ad-
miniftered, did, indeed, admirably fit that
Conftitution ; but that, under the Chriftian
Oecohomy, a different Way of punifhing
the Sins of Particulars was revealed unto us ;
and that on the Principles of natural Light we
could gather that the Punishment of a
right constituted Public, was due only to
public Crimes j from which we being remark-
ably free, I concluded, that, in Support of
our happy Conftitution, we had great Rea-
fon to expect the diftinguiflied Protection of
Heaven. And becaufe you, Sir, make fo
flight of Public Virtue , where you fay, with
your ufual Contempt of what you don't un-*
deftand, — So that, according to this Doc-
trine y if we are but true to our Engagements
with France and Spain, tho our Sins ftould be
as the Sin of SODOM, we are in no Danger from
the Hand of God*-, I fhall be bold to tell you
a Secret : A Secret that may pofllbly teach
you to think more reverendly of public Vir-
tue j and efpecially of the Virtue of that
State to which you have the Honour to be-

* Hifl- of Abraham, p. 102.

long

[ 7]

long -, which is, that it would be hard to find,
throughout the Hiftory of Mankind, any one
State either Ancient or Modern, Monarchy
or Republic, ib long and eminently diftin-
guilhed for its Obfervance of Public Faith :
There being but one Inftance fince the Revo-
lution (at which time, our Conm'tution, un-
der the prefent happy Settlement of the
Crown, commenced) where good Faith
was not moft fcrupuloufly and religioufly dif-
charged by it. — This is all. For I would
not now iniifi on your falfe Reprefentation
of my Doctrine, for falie it is, I having
expreffly held, (as you muft have feen at
the Bottom of p. 21. of my Sermon) that,
beiides Fidelity to our public Engagements,
ihefecitring orneglefting the Reverence due to
the Deity, and the Practice of Virtue and
Morality were what made States accountable :
I fay, I mall not now inlift upon this j for Ca-
lumny and falfe Reprefentation go for No-
thing with you : They fland for no more,
in your Gothic Syftem, than the Monkey-
faces in your old Cathedral at Sarum: On
which, tho', by their Diflortions, one would
think much Strefs was to be laid ; yet they
really ferve for no other Purpofe than to con-
vince

[8 ]

vince us of the perverfe Ideas of the Artifi-
cers.

But now, Sir, fnch, as you fee above, was
the Doctrine I delivered. And was it rea-
fonable to think that this Dodrine, at fuch
a Time, and on fuch an Occafion, could ad-
minifter juft Catife of Offence to a Divine of
the Church of E?igland ? Not that I prefume
to compare this Juncture, how critical foever,
to that facred and important Time when
Dr. Henry Sacheverell (under whofe aufpi-
cious Flights you firft happily eflayed your
infant Pinions) difcovered THE CHURCH
TO BE IN DANGER; yet allow us pro-
phane Men of SODOM to have a little Con-
cern for our civil Constitution. I know
indeed, your Definition of a true Churchman^
would you give it us, would not be found
to be much unlike Monf. de la Bruyere's of
a true Frenchman , who fays that, in him,
there is no fuch thing as Love of our Country ;
the Intereft, the Glory and the Service of the
Prince fupply it's Place. The very fame
thing, I dare fay, you think of Mother
Church; whofe Intereft and 'Glory and Ser-
vice abforb and fwallow up all lefler Con-
fiderations of Humanity. Now tho' I think

as

[9]

as highly of the Church as you could do 5 anc|
have proved, more than you could do, that
it is Man's fupreme Bleffing, and the Support
of all his inferior ones j yet I fhall ftill have
fome Concern for the State, if it were only
for the reciprocal Support it returns unto
it.

But it is now Time to hear what you
have to fay againft my Doctrine, thus criti-r
cally, as I thought, delivered in Favour of
our happy Conftitution. " The Clergy very
c* well know (fay you) and need not this
*c Gentleman's help to inform them, that
<l God was under a fpecial Covenant with
<' the Jews fpr temporal Good and Evil,
" But as this Covenant, whatever Privi*
" ledges it gave to the Jews above other
" Nations, could not deftroy God's Right
" as univerfal Governor; an Argument
" therefore will very properly lye from God's
<c dealing with the Jews, to what other
<c Nations are to expect in like Cafes, in
fc fuch Points as either Reafon or Scripture
<f {hew, to appertain to God's univerfal Gor
?f yernment ; of which Sort is the punifhing
(t Nations and Kingdoms for the Wicked-?
f' ednefs of them fhat dwell therein. As
C ?f ap,

'"' appears from the FLOOD, from the Cafe
<f of SODOM and GOMORRAH, oftheNi-
" NEVITES, and of thole HEATHEN NA-
" TIONS whom the Jews were raifed up
" to deftroy (as the Scripture exprefsly fays)
" for their Wickednejs c.

Here, Sir, it muft be owned, to fpeak in
the trite Language of my Office, you have
outdone yoitrfelf. The Doctrine to be con-
futed was this, — That God, in his com-
mon Government ' of the World, doth not
deprive Nations of that greateft Bleffing he
ever beftowed upon them, a free and equal
Government^ for the Vices of Particulars.
I fupported my Pofition from our natural
Notions of God's Providence ; and from
what we find revealed of it in Scripture. To
the firft, you have thought fit to be filent :
In the fecond, (where I confidered the Je<w-
iJJo Government, the only Cafe, as I under-
ftood it, that could feem to fupport the con-
trary Opinion) you fupply my Omiffions:
and urge me with God's Judgments on the
People at the Flood, on Sodo?n and Gomorrah^
the Ninevites, and the feven Nations. But

* Hijt, of Abraham, fcfr. p. too.

alas !

alas! Sir, amongft all thefe, I cannot find
one Jree and equal Government ; for which,
only, I undertake to be an Advocate. Some
of them were uncivilized Tribes, living in a
State of Nature, in which there was no Blef-
fing of Government to take away : And
others, the Hill viler Slaves of petty Tyran-
nies, where the Detraction of the State was
the Removal of God's feverefl Curfe. In a
Word, Sir, I was fpeaking of the greatefl
human Happinefs hoftilely aimed at, and in
Danger to be loft ; and you confute my
Doctrine, by Inftances of the greatefl human
Pvlifery occasionally extinguimed ; the Lofs of
the noble Conftitutipn of Sodom and Gomor-
rah : to which, you decently compare the
free Government of Great Britain. I was
fpeaking, and fpeaking only, of a CONSTI-
TUTION, of aCoUNTRY, where civil and re-
ligious Liberty flourifh'd at their Height,
and in their moil palmy State. I never con-
cerned myfelf how God would deal with a
Community of Savages : Nor ever thought
it worth my while to confider what kind of
a Punimment it was to overthrow a Tyranny.
I regarded thofe illuftrious Societies as no
more than Paper and Packthread thrown into
C 2 the

[Hf

*he fiallahce, when God, in his Juftice, weighs
the Fate of Nations.

And to make all this flill more amazing^
To your grotefque Parade of mock Reafoning,
you immediately fubjoin my own Words,
which might have fet you right ; but can now
only ferve to expofe your Perverfity. " f But
"Mr. W. (fay you) who loves to be
u by himfelf, after having retailed to us
f< the Principles of the Divine Legation^
tc comes to this Concluiion, diametrically
Cc oppofite to the Senfe of his Brethren, and
" I believe of all Chriftian Divines from St.
Ct Paul to this Day, viz. that we have no
" Warrant to conclude ', that becauj'e the pri-
*« vafe Vices and Impieties of Men under the
tf Jwuifi Oeconomy, by the jufl Judgment of
<c God frequently brought amazing Deftruclion
l< on their Nation^ that it has now the Jelf
c< fame Tendency to provoke his Wrath again/I
tc O URS g." And now, Sir, was not this
enough to mew you that I confined my Do-
drine to the Bleffing of a Jree and equal Go-
vernment, when, I confidered none other
than the jfeivifi and our own ? But, as if you

f Hlft. of Abraham, fcfr. p. 101.
6 Fail Sermon, p. 13. 14.

had

C'3]

liad a Mind to give the World Notice of fo
uncommon a Traverfe, you have printed the
XVord ours in a different character from the
reft.

I think my felf but little concerned to fet
thofe right whofe Malice has run their Heads
into a Trap 5 yet the Civility of this Addrefs
requires me, for once, to help you out.

The temporal Punifhments, which God
inflicts upon Iniquity, are of three kinds :
That, on Particulars j on a People ; and on
•a State or Government. The two firft, I hold
to be exercifed againft the Crimes of Men ;
the latter only againft. the Crimes of the
State. The Subject of my Sermon was con-
cerning the Punishment of legitimate States,
as jiich. The very Cafe confined me to this
Confideration ; the imminent Danger of our
happy Eftablimment from a powerful Body
of Rebels, which, at the Moment of my
writing, had penetrated, without controul,
to the very Centre of the Kingdom. With
God's Punifhment for the Sins of Particulars,
by, what may be called, the national Judg-
ments of Famine, Peftilence, or any other
way that hurts not the Conftitution, my Sub-
ject was not concerned. In this, as much a Lover

of

C'4]

of Singularity as you arepleafed to reprefentme,
I believe with all my Brethren. I believe thefe
Judgments to be fent for the Sins of private
Men ; but fo reftrained, as not to hurt that great
Gift of God, a free and equal Government.
For here I ftop ; and ftill affirm, That if a State
be a MORAL AGENT, it's Actions, as fuch,
are thofe only which make it accountable :
God, according to my Theology, never de-
priving us of a BlefTing, he hath beftowed, till
that Bleffing hath been abufed.

And now, Sir, let me tell you, had you
confidered this, you might haveabaited much
both of your Learning and your Logic : You
would have fpared us your Monfters, both
before the Flood and after ; your Ninevites,
your Sodom and Gomorrab j juft as pertinent
to be oppofed to my Doctrine as the Giants
Gogmagog and Coryneus. It would have eafed
you too of the Trouble of fearching for Con-
traditions in my Sermon. But why do I fay
the trouble ? This is your favourite Topic of
Confutation. And certainly never was there
fuch a Difcoverer, or, to (peak more properly,
fuch an Invent er Q£ Contradictions. But, to do
you Juftice, Contradiction in your Language, is
only another Word for a Tubing not underjlood.

For

For as Geographers fill unknown Tracts with
Whales and Elephants, fo you ornament your
terra incognita of an anfwered Book with Di-
lemmas and Contradictions.

How many of thefe did you not find in my
Difcourfe on the Cafe of Abraham? And here
again, you are as bufy at the fame Sport. Thus
you fay, " It is very odd (the Author's Senti-
" ments confidered) that he mould take his
" Text from the Jewifo Hiftory, as other
" Preachers had done before him. BUT IT
<c is NOT ALL OF A PIECE. There are
<c fome PafTages in this Sermon, in which he
" talks upon this Subject like other Men " h.
This is truly pleafant. You had reprefented me
as fuch a Lover of Singularity, that I always
thought by myfelf: You find here I talk like
other Men : And therefore, you conclude —
I am not all of a Piece. Why, how mould I,
if you make one Piece of me, and God Al-
mighty, another ? By his Grace, 1 am a Be-
liever; but, by your fixed Decrees, I ftill re-
main in a State of Infidelity and Reprobation.
Could the Creature of Manicheus be com-
pofed of more different Principles? But where,

» Hijl. of Abraham, p. 104.

[ 1*1

I pray you, lies this Inconfiftency ? « It is
" (you fay) where I affirm that with the Dif-
" pofition of Humiliation before God, and
<c hearty Repentance for our Sins, and fin-
" cere Refolutions of Amendment, the mer-
" ciful Providence of God will enable us, &c,
" And where I mention, the private Vices and
" Impieties of the Nation as the only Impe*
" diment we have to fear in the happy If-
" fue of our Appeal to the Juftice of Heaven,
" How thefe two Pajfages are to be reconciled
c< to the former ( fiiy youj let him look to it i."
Nay, Sir, let me fpeak now. Do you look to
it. And if, after all this, you cannot or will
not, find it, let this fictitious Inconfiftency
be placed where it ought, not on the Sermon,
but on your own Weeknefs, or Wilfulnefs
in mifreprefenting, what, in in itfelf, is
evidently confiftent.

It is fuftkient that I have here given you
a plain Account of that flocking Doctrine to
Chriftian Ears, which (as you tell the Public)
after having taken from us the Examples of
Gotfs Judgments upon the Jewift Nation, has
not left us any other Footing upon which tot

» ////?. of Abraham, p. 10^..
T

awaken Men from their Vices by the Fears of
NATIONAL JUDGMENTS, to be inflifted by
the Hand of Heaven k. I am forry that ever ho-
neft Ears mould be thought oppofed to Cbri-
ftian : And that I am obliged on this Occa-
fion, to appeal to them. But to them I mufl
appeal ; for what Senfe about you could be
trufted, while you allowed your felf in this
Liberty of Reprefentation ?

But I forbear you — However, having faid
fo much of the Truth of my Doctrine, one
Word, if you pleafe, concerning its Expe-
diency ; for I am not ufed to write or preach
merely for the fake of either. The Expe-
diency will be beft feen by confidering what
muft be the natural Conduct of a good Man^
on the Principle you defend, in a State, which
you compare to Sodom and Gomorrah^ when
fo imminently threatened as ours was, at the
time of my preaching. Muft he not, all
thefe Circumftances concurring, think us a
devoted People \ And would he not pioufly
deem, that flruggling for the Conftitution
was fighting againft God ? What Encourage-
ment would be now left him for the Dif-
charge of his Duty as a Citizen ? He mea-

k Hift. ^Abraham, p. 102.

D fures

[ '8 ]

fares every thing by the Jewifh Standard. He
knows what Character Hiilory has tranfmit-
ted to us of thofe Zealots for their Country,
who fo long oppofed the Progrefs of Titus's
Arms, in the laft Deftrudion of Jerufalem.
Thefe, he finds, reprefented as an abandoned
Crew of Mifcreants, impioufly oppoiing the
Decrees of Providence : And 'tis hard to think
that one of your good Chriftians would dare to
follow their Example. Be fides, on thefe
Grounds, what falfe Divinity could not perfect,
real Cowardice would fupply j which, under
Cover of a religious Principle, would teach
Men to hide their Poltroonry in all the Heat
of facred Zeal and Bigottry.

But to draw to a Conclufion. Your Quar-
rel with me (you tell the Public) is for my
having THROWN THE RECEIVED SYSTEM
OF DIVINITY INTO CONFUSION *. What
you mean by the received Syftem of Divinity
I don't underftand, unlefs you mean, that
received by your Jelf. The Subjetf of the Di-
vine Legation is an Expolition of Revelation
as it lies in the Bible : And the End of it, to

1 Hijl. of Abraham, p. 99.

con-

L '9

convince Unbelievers of the Reafonablenefs
and Truth of our holy Religion. Whatever
human Syftems, therefore, lye in the way
of the Bible, it is no Wonder they fhould
fall at its Approach, like Dagon before the
Ark, into Confujion. And the ill Confequence
of this let them look to who make or fupport
the Idol. To Truth, to the Lovers of Truth,
to a pure Church, to an equitable State, it
can be of none. I know not whom it af-
fects but the Silver fmitbs alone. Let Syftems
therefore rife or fall, as Fafbions favour, or
as Party fupports : But let the Bible, and our
eftablimed Church built upon it, be immortal f
You go on. / could never think his No-
tions about the yewifi Religion to be harmlefs
things ; and it was very ea/y to fee that, foould
they prevail among ft the Clergy , they would foon
CREEP into the PULP IT and introduce a Me-*
t hod of Inftru&ion very different from what the
People have been accuftomed to j of which Mr.
W. has given full Proof to the World in his
Fafl-Sermonm. I would fain, Sir, recom^
mend my felf to your good Opiaioo j if it

* IJiJt. of Abraham, p. 99.

D 2 could

[10]

Could be done, and not at the Expence of
Truth. But I cannot fo far flatter your Self-
Love as to fay I am an High-Flyer : Yet
give me leave to tell you, Sir, I never CREEP ;
and leaft of all in the Pulpit. I have told
you my prime Motive for preaching and
publishing this Sermon : And if you will al-
low me to have collatteral ones, I will tell
you too what thofe were. You, and fuch as
you, had grofsly mifreprefented my Princi-
ples to the World. I therefore thought fit
to appeal (and am not the firft that hath
done fo) from your Sanhedrim to the People :
To (hew both one and other, that my Prin-
ciples were good for fomething ; and hot
only true in Theory, but ufeful in their pub-
lic Application. And what furer Mark of
Truth than public Utility ? If you know of
any, be fo good to communicate it to us,
and from that Hour I promife to become
your Difciple : You (hall then have no long-
er Reafon to complain of your being ill re-
paid for your Labours n, that is, as I appre-
hend you, that no body likes your Principles,
or underftands your Reafoning.

» Hift. of Abraham, p. 105.

You

You conclude however, That it is fitch
as 'was never before heard from a Chriftian
Preacher, and you fwpe will never be Ixard
again in times to come °. The World, perhaps,
may think this only one of thoie pious Eja-
culations, by which you have been accuftom-
ed to execrate heretical Opinions, ever fmce
your WHOLESOME SEVERITIES, of fa-
mous Memory, have been out of Fafhion.
But I, who ought to conclude, at leaft,
with a better Opinion of my Patron, con-
ceive it to be an honefter With ; that the
like Occafion, ib opprobrious to the Britifo
Name, may never return. And I don't
know that I {hall bring this Doctrine back
into the Pulpit, till it does. But then, Sir,
if ever that fhould happen, it furely comes
again, tho* at the Hazard of your utmoft
Difpleafure. In the mean time, moft Po-
lemic Sir, let us agree in this, however dif-
ferent we may go in other Matters, to reve-
rence and fupport our happy Conftitution.
And, that I may bring the Matter as near
to you as I can, What other Conftitution,
but this, let me afk you, would have heaped

P. 104.

Chan-

f » .]

Chancellor/hips, Archdeaconrys, Prebends,
Gfc. with fo liberal a Hand, and on fo
worthy a Subjedt. Let us, therefore,
learn to think again like honeft Men,
and never talk of SODOM AND GOMORRAH
more.

/ am, &c.

FINIS,

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